White Allies, Now’s Your Chance
Your answer to “What Now?”
“It’s only been one year?!” Yes, we are only starting the second year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, and like most sequels, it sucks! A lot of people are upset and sick of how we are being treated as a nation, but as a black man in this country, it’s a tale as old as time, or 1619 for the history buffs out there.
Police violating rights and killing people in broad daylight is nothing new for us. Too often, everyday items have been confused for guns in our hands: cell phones, Skittles, and a permit for a gun. These actions have finally turned their ugly head on White people, and now they are feeling the pains we warned and complained about for decades, but hey, at least All Lives really do matter now.
So, what do we do? Well, “WE” (Black People) are going to keep doing what we’ve been doing, which I can’t tell you because it’s super secret, and I can’t share what happens in the meetings or my card will be revoked. I do know the two things y’all can do, so here I am to show you the way!
Reverse Gentrification - Of course, we know what gentrification is, but with reverse gentrification, you move back to the WASPY neighborhoods from which you came.
You’d be helping out in two ways:
You’d move out of black and brown places, making homes more affordable again and…
You’d lower the prices in the burbs and upset conservatives with your newly found AAVE, and while you’re at it, be loud and listen to music with gunshots in it to drive costs down. The best part is economic, you’d bring back the middle class!! Remember the middle class?! You can be the reason we would live like it’s the 90s again! Truly making America great- never mind.
Go Fuck Some Shit Up - You read correctly, I know that protests are usually meant to be peaceful on our side, and as much as I love seeing all different types of people using their First Amendment rights (even if they are clapping on the 1s and 3s).
It feels like it’s not enough when the opposing side is supporting fascism and shooting people in the face. It feels like chants and songs aren’t going to cut it, but that’s where YOU come in!
There are plenty of conversations about using your privilege, but what better way than to actually fight back?! We’re already using the First Amendment to make our voices heard, but what if they aren’t listening? Why not look into one of the other fun ones? Tap into those instincts and create the real change we’ve learned about in those history books, since I can’t just walk into a country club.
I’m not saying go full Luigi, but maybe scare ‘em a little bit while you listen to Hamilton.
These may feel extreme, but that’s change and progress, and if you’re feeling like “that’s too much for me,” imagine how I feel! If I didn’t scare you off and you’re still reading, congrats, because you made it to the secret third option that keeps you out of jail and allows you to stay in your diverse communities, and that’s…
Attack Their Pockets. Be wise about where you spend your money; boycotts of big corporations have been shown to actually work and hurt the bigwigs where they really care. “But E.J., I need my Target Starbucks with a McDonald’s chaser,” and I need us to stop being targets for the administration, so go spend in local businesses and support the little guy(Person!) because if you can’t do that, then what the hell are we doing anyway?